Bernier Earns First Win, Shutout as Leafs Rout LA Kings

TORONTO — They entered Air Canada Centre on Saturday night and had arguably their worst effort of the season. After trailing 1-0 through the first 40 minutes, the Los Angeles Kings collapsed in the third, allowing four goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled to a 5-0 victory, ending the silver-and-black’s road trip on a sour note.

Photo credit: Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images

The Kings entered this contest facing ex-netminder Jonathan Bernier who has had a tough year so far. Coming into Saturday, Bernier had a dismal 0-8-2 record to go along with a 3.46 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage. He had also spent some time in the AHL recently. On this night, though, No. 45 got the confidence boost he needed as he made 26 saves to not only earn his first win of the season, but also his first shutout. Plus, through the first two periods, while he may not have received much offensive support, Bernier did get enough of it.

It was a defensive battle for much of this game but in the third, the bottom fell out for Los Angeles.

Michael Grabner tipped in a Nazem Kadri shot at the 3:58 mark to put Toronto up by a pair. Then, Grabner got his second of the period as he beat Enroth at the 13:34 mark. Komarov scored 3:04 later and then, 49 seconds after that, Byron Froese tucked in his first-career NHL goal to give the home side a five-goal lead. That is how this one ended.

Photo credit: Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images

While this was the effort Jonathan Bernier needed, the Leafs did make it difficult for the silver-and-black to even challenge the netminder. Textbook defensive stops in addition to heads-up fore-checking led to the decisive win for the home team.

After a solid defensive outing in Montreal on Thursday, the Kings countered with one of their flattest efforts of the year — at least in the third. They now finish their six-game road trip at 3-2-1 as they finally head back to SoCal for a couple of days off.

Next up for the silver-and-black is one last game before the Christmas break. That will come on Tuesday night when they play host to the San Jose Sharks.

About Ryan Cowley

Ryan Cowley has been writing about the Los Angeles Kings since 2009, beginning as the head writer and editor of Make Way for the Kings since its inception. Until the summer of 2015, Make Way was run by the FanvsFan Network (www.makewayforthekings.com) but has since become independent at its new address: www.makewayforthekings.net
Ryan is an NHL-accredited writer who has covered such events as the Stanley Cup Final and Stadium Series. He is also a graduate of Comedy Writing & Performance from Humber College in Toronto, Ontario.